


Tides

by Milo



Category: Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Faun and Merman AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-21 01:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3673005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milo/pseuds/Milo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Turns out low tide is actually good for something. A filled request from Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tides

“I’m so fucking bored.”

“You should have thought about that before braving the storm.”

Archie huffed. It wasn’t his fault that he lived in the ocean, or that the ocean happened to be a harsh place, or that he’d happened to venture too close to shore where there just happened to be a cute faun living close to the sea. Nope. That wasn’t his fault at all.

It was even less of his fault that, when the storm picked up, he’d been hurled onto shore. If anything, it was Maxie’s fault for being too scrawny to help him back into the sea.

At least lounging the plastic pool under damp towels was better than drying out.  _Slightly_.

“How many hours til high tide?” Archie asked, looking at Maxie hopefully.

Maxie stuck his finger into the book he was reading and looked down at his watch. 

“Four.”

“ _Four_? Ugh…” Archie raked his hair. “I can’t wait four hours!”

“Well you’re too heavy to drag all the way back into the sea.” Maxie said. “It’s a miracle I even managed to get you  _this_  far.”

Archie rested his chin on the lip of the pool with a sigh. Maxie reopened his book and crossed his furry orange legs at the ankle. He debated on whether he should ask Maxie for something to look at to pass the time. Books were hard to come by in the ocean, and the water ruined the words and pictures on the page.

However, there was another problem. Archie couldn’t read. Just as books were hard to come by, literate merfolk were also scarce. This wouldn’t stop Archie from looking at pictures, though.

“What’re you reading?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“On the contrary, it concerns me a whole lot.” Maxie looked up at him. Archie grinned. “Does it have any pictures?”

Maxie paged through the book. “A few.”

“Can I look at them?”

“No.”

Archie pouted and rested his head on his arms. “Yer a terrible host, ya know that?” He said. Maxie rolled his eyes. “Lettin’ yer only guest get bored out of his fuckin’ mind.” Maxie tried to ignore Archie and continue reading. “Why don’t ya read some of that book to me?”

Maxie’s ear twitched. He lifted the book to reveal the cover. Archie squinted. He couldn’t read the writing, of course, but he did catch the picture of the volcano on the front. Or, at least, he thought it was a volcano. Undersea volcanoes did look a little different.

“I can assure you it has nothing to do with the sea.” Maxie said.

“Don’t care.” Archie said. “Land’s pretty neat sometimes too. And either way I’m gonna be stuck here a while.”

Maxie narrowed his eyes at him. Archie stared back determinedly. He wasn’t backing down.

“It has lots of numbers.” Maxie said. “And discusses the geology of the areas surrounding volcanoes.” He looked down at the book, then back up. “You’ll get very bored very fast.”

“Try me. I dare ya.”

Maxie flipped the book open to the first page and started reading. It was just the introduction of the book, talking about the author and the purpose behind its publication, but Archie found himself clinging to every word. He’d never heard of these names, or these places, and there was something magical about that.

Occasionally Maxie would look up from the book to see if Archie had fallen asleep, probably because he was so quiet. But every time Archie would encourage him to keep going. And Maxie would. 

The book told of rocks, some that Archie knew very well and some that he didn’t, and of a volcano’s importance in the process of making them. He vaguely wondered if anyone else he knew was this into rocks. He couldn’t think of anyone.

Then again, everyone was more into fish and plants than they were into land. None of them would probably dare to come this close.

Archie watched Maxie’s face as his eyes read each and every line on the page. He watched his lips move to form words and his nose twitch as his glasses slowly slid down his nose, and when they reached the bottom he’d pause to push them back up.

“Are all books like this?”

Maxie’s concentration broke. “Hm?”

“Like…are they all full of stuff like that? Stories, and information, and…everythin' else?” Archie asked. “I mean, ya haven’t even gotten halfway through that thing and I feel like I know more about rocks now than I do about tides.”

“Clearly you don’t have much information on tides then.” Maxie said, raising an eyebrow. “Most people read dozens upon dozens of books before they consider themselves knowledgeable on something.”

“ _Dozens_.” Archie repeated, staring down at the ground. How did anyone have time to read that much? “Dozens and dozens of books. Yer kidding.”

“I’m not.”

“Wow.” Archie looked up at Maxie, who was watching him with an odd expression. “So ya do this a lot? Reading? Ya just…sit out here in the sun and read?”

“On most days, yes. When the weather is nice.” Maxie stuck his finger into the book and closed it. “Sounds like you don’t do much of it yourself?”

“Can’t read.” Archie said. “And even if I could, it’s not like I can just take these things under the water with me.” Archie gestured at him. “…So, keep goin’.”

Maxie looked amused.

“You  _still_  want to hear more?”

Archie grinned.

“Sure do! Besides, we’ve still got four hours of time ta kill, right?”

Maxie looked at his watch. “Two and a half, actually.” He said. “Hardly enough time to finish this book.”

“Well, that’s too bad. Cause I want to finish it. Hmmm…” Archie scratched his chin. “Ya got a bathtub I can sit in?”

Maxie snorted and shook his head. “I’d break something trying to get you up the stairs.” He said. “You’re going back out whether you like it or not.” Archie scowled. “Oh, don’t give me that look. Just a couple hours ago you were complaining about _not_ leaving.”

“Well, I changed my mind.”

Maxie made a face. Then, his ear twitched again. He pushed up on his glasses. 

“Ah…the tides come and go every six or so hours.” He said. “And it’s very easy to predict when the next one will come.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So,” Maxie said, “if you really want to hear the rest of this book, I suppose you’ll just have to  _conveniently_  come too close to the shore and  _conveniently_  get stranded on the beach, hm?”

Archie blinked. Was this guy inviting him over for another reading session? He felt himself grinning widely. He glanced up at the cliff where Maxie’s little cottage was and wondered to himself; If people normally read dozens of books to learn more, how many more books did Maxie have?

“I might just have to take ya up on that.” Archie said. “But the real question is whether or not yer old back actually take carryin’ me around.”

“I still have two hours left until high tide. That’s plenty of time for me to kick this pool over and roll you inland. Don’t tempt me.”


End file.
